SACRAMENTO, CA -- A new poll released Thursday by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Proposition 19, the statewide initiative to control and tax cannabis (marijuana) leading 52-41, with just 7 percent of likely voters still undecided.

"Controlling and taxing cannabis is polling higher than anything else on California's ballot, including the gubernatorial and Senate candidates, as well as all the other initiatives," said Richard Lee, a proponent of Prop. 19. "If anyone needed more proof that the voters are way ahead of the politicians on this issue, they just got it. This should serve as a real wake up call to those politicians who still think they can somehow score political points by supporting continued prohibition."

The PPIC poll comes on the heels of a September 25 California Field Poll showing Prop. 19 leading 49-42 and a September 22 Survey USA poll showing Prop. 19 up 47-42. According to PPIC, 80 percent of likely voters feel the outcome of the vote on Prop. 19 is "very important" or "somewhat important." The full results of the PPIC poll can be found at: http://www.ppic.org/main/publication.asp?i=959.

Prop. 19 has continued to rack up endorsements from groups like the National Black Police Association, the California NAACP, the California Council of Churches IMPACT and SEIU of California, as well as many individual law enforcers, doctors, Latino community leaders, faith leaders, labor, business leaders, elected officials, political parties and more. For a full list of endorsements, please visit: http://www.YesOn19.com/endorsements.

Similar to current alcohol and tobacco laws, Prop. 19 will give state and local governments the ability to control and tax the sale of small amounts of cannabis to adults age 21 and older. As the California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO), which provides non-partisan fiscal and policy advice, confirms, Prop. 19 includes significant safeguards and controls: It maintains strict criminal penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana, increases the penalty for providing marijuana to a minor, expressly prohibits the consumption of marijuana in public, forbids smoking marijuana while minors are present and bans possession on school grounds. http://ag.ca.gov/cms_attachments/initiatives/pdfs/i821_initiative_09-0024_amdt_1-s.pdfhttp://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/19_11_2010.pdf (Page 3)

California’s tax collector, the Board of Equalization (BOE), which currently collects alcohol and tobacco taxes, estimates that marijuana taxes could generate $1.4 billion in revenue each year, available to fund law enforcement, healthcare and other critical needs. http://www.boe.ca.gov/legdiv/pdf/ab0390-1dw.pdf

The California Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO) also says Prop. 19 would enable California to put our police priorities where they belong, in that it “could result in savings to the state and local governments by reducing the number of marijuana offenders incarcerated in state prisons and county jails, as well as the number placed under county probation or state parole supervision. These savings could reach several tens of millions of dollars annually. The county jail savings would be offset to the extent that jail beds no longer needed for marijuana offenders were used for other criminals who are now being released early because of a lack of jail space." http://www.lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/19_11_2010.pdf (Page 6)